UN calls for Israel to open more Gaza crossings for surge in aid deliveries

The United Nations humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, has urged Israel to immediately open more crossings into the famine-stricken Gaza Strip to allow for a surge in aid deliveries.

In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Fletcher said that the UN is seeking a dramatic boost in humanitarian aid for Gaza, saying the hundreds of relief trucks cleared to enter the devastated enclave were nowhere near the thousands needed to ease a humanitarian disaster.

Thousands of humanitarian vehicles must enter weekly to avert further catastrophe, he told the Reuters news agency.

“We have 190,000 metric tonnes of provisions on the borders waiting to go in and we’re determined to deliver. That’s essential life-saving food and nutrition,” Fletcher said.

Israel’s two-year war on Gaza has displaced almost all of the Strip’s 2.2 million residents from their homes, and famine is present in the north, global monitors say.

Vast swaths of the coastal territory have been reduced to a wasteland by Israeli bombardments and air strikes that have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Rights groups and a UN commission of inquiry have accused Israel of committing genocide in the war. Israel has denied the allegations.

US President Donald Trump and regional leaders on Monday signed a declaration in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to cement a ceasefire deal. The resumption of aid deliveries is listed as a provision in Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the war on Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the Israeli army retained control of parts of the city.

“Large areas of Gaza City and the north remain under firm control of the Israeli military,” Mahmoud said. “Armoured vehicles and tanks are still stationed in the eastern parts of the city, preventing many residents from going back to their homes.”

“No aid is reaching Gaza City, not even from the 300 trucks that were promised entry. Major roads have been destroyed or blocked by rubble from collapsed buildings, especially high-rises, cutting off key access routes in and out of the city,” Mahmoud added.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have continued to sporadically attack various parts of Gaza despite the ceasefire, killing at least three people since dawn on Wednesday, according to medical sources. Gaza’s Health Ministry said hospitals in Gaza received at least 11 other bodies, including eight recovered from rubble and three who succumbed to injuries from earlier attacks.

‘Unhindered access’

Israeli officials said 600 trucks have been approved to enter the blockaded territory under the current US-brokered truce deal.

Fletcher called the announcement of 600 trucks a “good base” but said it was not enough to meet the scale of need.

He called for more than 50 international NGOs, including Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council, to be allowed to bring in aid, saying the issue has been raised with Israel, the United States and other regional partners.

“We cannot deliver the scale necessary without their presence and their engagement. So we want to see them back in. We are advocating on their behalf,” he said.

“We’ve been calling for unhindered access,” Fletcher told the AFP news agency, adding: “It should happen now. We want it to happen immediately as part of this [ceasefire] agreement.”

Fletcher said the looting of aid trucks had dropped sharply in recent days as deliveries increased.

“If you’re only getting in 60 trucks a day, desperate, hungry people will attack those trucks. The way to stop the looting is to deliver aid at massive scale and get the private sector and commercial markets operating again.”

The Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has meanwhile said it is prepared to operate the Rafah crossing, which it previously did with EU assistance.

Fletcher welcomed the PA’s offer to play a role in reopening the crossing. He said medical evacuations through the crossing would be a priority, citing recent talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Rafah crossing remained shut on Wednesday, despite reports that it could reopen to aid convoys, as Israel insisted Hamas hand over the remains of the last deceased Israeli captives that were held by Palestinian groups in Gaza, as agreed in the truce deal.

In a statement on Wednesday night, the Palestinian group’s armed wing said it has abided by the terms of the agreement, handing over all living captives in their custody, as well as the bodies they were able to retrieve.

The group added that locating and recovering the remaining bodies would require extensive effort and specialised equipment, and that it is continuing to make efforts towards that end.

Trump also appeared to acknowledge that the return of Israeli captives’ bodies will be difficult, saying it’s a “gruesome process”, but Hamas is “looking for” the remains.

“They’re digging. They’re actually digging. There are areas where they’re digging and they’re finding a lot of bodies, and then they have to separate the bodies,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday, adding some corpses are buried under rubble.

Separately, Israel’s army said it received two more coffins from the Red Cross (ICRC) at a meeting point in northern Gaza Strip late on Wednesday, and the bodies of the captives handed over by Hamas were being taken for forensic identification.

“Israeli health and forensic authorities are responsible for identifying the remains of the deceased,” the ICRC said in a statement verifying it facilitated the transfer.

“The parties must endeavor to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased to their families. The ICRC can fulfil its functions as a neutral intermediary only through the cooperation of all actors, and within the framework of the current agreement,” it said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that it received the bodies of 45 Palestinians who had been held in Israeli custody through the International Committee of the Red Cross, bringing the total number returned to 90.